As 2025 draws to a close, Nigeria’s national electricity grid has demonstrated notable improvement in stability, recording only three major collapses throughout the year—a significant reduction from the frequent disruptions seen in recent times.
The most recent incident occurred on December 29, when the grid suffered a partial system disturbance around 2:01 p.m., causing generation to drop sharply from nearly 4,800 megawatts to as low as 50 megawatts nationwide.
Swift restoration efforts by the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) brought power back online by evening, minimising prolonged outages despite impacts on homes, businesses, and industries.
The confirmed major collapses in 2025 took place on January 11, September 10, and December 29. Earlier disturbances, such as those reported in February, were officially classified by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and regulators as line trippings or partial issues rather than full national collapses.
This lower count reflects incremental gains from ongoing transmission upgrades, improved monitoring, and efforts to address gas supply vulnerabilities, even as challenges like pipeline vandalism and ageing infrastructure persist. Peak generation remained limited to around 5,000–6,000 megawatts, far below the 30,000 megawatts needed to meet demand for Nigeria’s population of over 200 million.
In comparison, 2024 was one of the most unstable years on record, with the grid collapsing 10 to 12 times amid high demand, vandalism, and operational strains.
This marked a sharp contrast to 2025’s relative resilience. The year 2023 saw fewer incidents, around three to four major collapses, benefiting from better system coordination.
In earlier years, such as 2022 with four to six collapses and both 2020 and 2021 averaging four to five each, followed patterns influenced by post-pandemic recovery and economic pressures.
Over the longer term, Nigeria’s grid has endured chronic fragility, suffering more than 200 collapses since 2010 and over 100 in the past decade alone.
These failures have inflicted billions in annual economic losses, driving widespread reliance on generators and hindering growth. Experts point to underinvestment, insufficient maintenance, and over-dependence on gas-fired plants as enduring issues.